Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Downtown Buffalo has, at least, 50 million reasons why it needs to address the limited number of hotels in the central business district.
This year alone, according to Visit Buffalo CEO Patrick Kaler, the city lost, at least, 25 meetings and conventions that might have come - but ended up elsewhere - because downtown lacked an adequate number of hotel rooms.
That translates to a loss of more than $50 million to the local economy at a time when downtown restaurants and attractions needed a financial boost from out-of-town visitors.
And the problem is there is no immediate solution, Kaler said.
The Buffalo Grand remains closed - as it has for the past four years - and sits at the center of legal struggle between the city and the hotel's owner Harry Stinson.
Even Kaler admits, renovating the Buffalo Grand would take, at least, two years and cost "millions of dollars" since it closed following a December 2021 fire and has been heavily vandalized.
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Building a new hotel would take several years to get through the planning, municipal approval and construction phases.
Downtown has 1,500 hotel rooms - roughly 10% of the 10,061 hotel rooms in all of Erie County.
Developers are loathe to take on a hospitality-anchored project for, among other reasons, securing financing for the project.
"I can't say it any simpler, we need more hotel rooms in downtown," Kaler said.
And his preference is a full-service, nationally branded or flagged hotel.
All of this comes against a backdrop for Visit Buffalo that saw a banner year in 2024 when it reported out-of-towners it brought to Buffalo and Erie County left behind a $2.7 billion economic impact, a number that has risen 69% in the past decade.
Last year, Buffalo and Erie County welcomed 9.6 million visitors.
This year's numbers may not be so lofty as the number of Canadian visitors has dropped more than 40% because of angers directed at President Trump and his stance on making Canada the 51st state and instituting draconian-like tariffs.
"It's all about politics and the narrative coming out of D.C.," Kaler said.